"I do not choose to say. What can that matter?"
Again the staff-officer interposed and whispered something in the general's ear.
"Of course; I had forgotten." Then, turning to McKay, he went on: "What is your name?"
"McKay."
"Your Christian names in full?"
"Stanislas Anastasius Wilders McKay."
"Exactly. Stanislas Alexandrovich McKay. I knew your father when he was a captain in the Polish Lancers; was he not?"
"I cannot deny it."
"He was a Russian, in the service of our holy Czar, and you, his son, are a Russian too."
"It is false! I am an Englishman. I have never yielded allegiance to the Czar."